Cloak Games: Rebel Fist (19 page)

I doubted that the fire was doing anything to Morvilind.

Yet it was doing something to the ring of flames. As the Archon wizards drew their power to strike back at Morvilind, the wall of fire started to sputter and flicker, like a candle flame caught in the wind. His plan was working. Yet there was still no way we could get through even the weakened wall of flame.

“Miss Moran!” said Corvus, shouting over the roar of the fire and the snarl of the competing spells. “Can you shield us?” 

I shook my head, a few loose strands of hair whipping around my face in the hot wind. “Not for long enough. We’d have to be fast. Like forty miles an hour fast.” 

“Could you shield a car?” said Corvus. “Long enough for us to pass the wall?”

“A car?” I said. “Hell, no. Maybe something smaller, like a bicycle. Or a…”

My voice trailed off as an idea clicked in my brain. 

“Or a motorcycle,” I said.

“You don’t have your motorcycle with you,” said Corvus.

Nora snorted. “She has a motorcycle?” She looked at Corvus. “Of course she has a motorcycle.” 

“I left it here when the Archons attacked,” I said. “This way.”

I ran down an aisle of parked cars, looking back and forth as I thought back to this morning. Just a little further…

And there it was, a Royal Motors NX-9 sportbike, black with orange highlights, sitting just where I had parked it. 

“And, of course,” said Nora, shaking her head, “the bike is painted like a tigress.”

“A tigress?” I said. “My bike does not look like a tigress. A tigress is orange with black stripes. This is black with orange highlights. There’s a difference, you know.” 

Nora shrugged. “Whatever, dear. You know how to drive one of these things?” 

“Yes,” said Corvus and I in unison.

We looked at each other. 

“But it’s my bike,” I said. 

“Can you work the warding spell and steer the motorcycle at the same time?” said Corvus. 

“No,” I said. After everything that had happened to me today, with everything that was at stake, the wave of irritation that went through me was petty. Yet I didn’t want to let anyone else ride my motorcycle, ever. 

“You still have the keys?” said Corvus. 

“Yes,” I said, digging in my jeans pocket and handing them over. “You had better not scratch it. I mean it. Not a single scratch.” 

“We’re about to ride into a wall of elemental fire,” said Corvus, swinging one leg over the bike. My bike. “If you do not want it scratched, then I suggest you focus upon the warding spell.” He looked at Nora. “There is only room for two.”

Nora nodded. “I will join you when I can. Perhaps you should take these.” She handed the clips of Shadowlands bullets to him. 

“No,” said Corvus. “You may need them.”

“I don’t believe in God, but I know you do, so I’ll pray for you,” said Nora. 

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said. 

“God hears all prayers,” said Corvus. 

Nora winked at me. “Go get them, tigress.”

“Tigress?” I said. “That had better not be my nickname.”

Nora only grinned.

“Ready?” said Corvus. 

I nodded and swung onto the bike behind him as Corvus started the engine. He was a lot bigger than I was, and took up most of the seat, so there wasn’t much room. I had to grip his hips with my legs, wrapping my arms around his chest. The engine roared as he revved it, and I had to lean harder against him…

Okay.

That felt a lot nicer than I wanted it to feel. 

“Russell was right,” I muttered. “This is more fun with a real boy.” 

“What?” said Corvus, looking back at me. 

“Nothing,” I said, but to my surprise I grinned. There was sort of a dark glee on Corvus’s face. I think part of it was the lure of the Shadow Hunters, his Shadowmorph hungering for life force upon which to feast. The rest of it…Corvus liked motorcycles, too. “I think you should shut up and ride.” 

To my surprise, he winked, turned, and gunned the throttle. My bike rolled forward with a roar, shooting down the aisle and toward the wall of flames. The fire was sputtering madly, and seemed to grow brighter and hotter as we shot towards it.

“Now!” shouted Corvus.

I released one hand from his chest, drawing upon every bit of magic I could gather, and cast the spell the Knight of Grayhold had taught me. Gray light shone from my hand, bathing me, Corvus, and my bike in a dome of ghostly light. 

Then we slammed into the fire.

I felt the fury of the elemental magic close in around me, and I screamed in pain, struggling to hold my barriers of will and magic in place. It was like trying to hold back a river with my bare hands. Every muscle in my body clenched at once, and I heard Corvus grunt as my left arm gripped his chest tighter. I couldn’t hold the spell. It was like trying to lift a thousand pounds above my head. I felt my will buckle, felt my spell collapse…

And then the pressure vanished as the motorcycle shot through the flames and into the ruined doors of the mall.

Through. We had gotten through. 

I released the spell with a groan, and Corvus hit the brakes, my bike’s tires skidding against the gleaming tile floor of the mall’s concourse. We skidded to a halt next to a big combined stone bench and floral display. I let out a long, tired breath, sagging against Corvus as I waited for the wave of dizziness from my magical exertion to pass.

“You all right?” said Corvus.

“Just peachy,” I said. “Man. Hit me again. One more time.” 

He laughed. “I confess I have never ridden a motorcycle into a wall of flames before.” 

I coughed out a laugh. “We should put on a show. Tour the country. You ride the motorcycle into a ring of fire, and I’ll shield us. We’ll make millions.” 

“You would have to ride the bike in a dress and high heels for the show,” said Corvus.

“You’d be surprised what I can do in a dress and high heels,” I said. Then I realized that I was still leaning against him, that I was all but wrapped around him, and I jerked back. Even as tired and frightened as I was, that still felt a little too good. I hopped off the bike and caught my balance. 

“Really?” said Corvus, swinging off the motorcycle. “Are you going to show me?”

I felt my face turn a bit red. “For God’s sake. You can flirt with me later.” 

“I do not think I am the one doing the flirting, Miss Moran,” said Corvus, drawing one of his pistols and shifting it to a two-handed grip. 

“Right,” I said, drawing one of my own guns. A dozen different barbed responses crowded to the tip of my tongue, but he was clever enough to throw them back at me, so for once in my life I chose the course of wisdom and didn’t fire back. “The Eye’s in the food court, on the lower level. You know the way?”

“I do not,” said Corvus. “I generally do not frequent malls.”

“Of course you don’t,” I said, starting forward. Corvus followed me in utter silence. The concourse seemed to be deserted, though I saw the signs of fighting and damage everywhere, and quite a few corpses. The emergency lights threw a steady glare, and the flickering light from the wall of flames cast dancing shadows over everything. 

“You do not seem the sort to frequent malls either,” said Corvus, his eyes moving back and forth as he looked for enemies. “Unless you needed more high-heeled shoes?”

I decided not to take the bait. “I promised to take my brother to the bookstore. He likes historical novels about the Crusades, and…” 

“He does?” said Corvus, and he started listing off a bunch of writers I remembered vaguely from conversations with Russell. 

“You’ll have to ask him about it,” I said. “I don’t…”

A thunderclap rang from overhead, and the mall trembled, the floor vibrating beneath my shoes. Some dust fell from overhead, and a few of the emergency lights flickered. I wondered if the battle between Morvilind and the Archon wizards would tear down the entire mall. I suppose collapsing the building atop the Cruciform Eye would close the Archons’ rift way, but I didn’t want to be buried with it. 

“Someone’s coming,” said Corvus. He could see in the dark better than I could, a gift of his Shadowmorph. “Six orcs, I think. The Archons must have sent them when we pierced the ward.”

I looked at the darkened stores around us. “We can hide.”

Corvus shook his head. “They’re coming right for us. We shall have to fight.”

“Damn it,” I said, and then an idea came to me. “I can surprise them.”

“How?” said Corvus. 

“A Masking spell,” I said.

Corvus shook his head. “Unless you speak the orcish tongue, it won’t work. The orcs communicate amongst themselves in that language.” 

“I’m not going to Mask myself as an orc,” I said. “Get ready. If you want to surprise them while I hold their attention, that would be best. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t look at me until you hear the orcs start screaming.”

Corvus scowled, but crossed to a darkened shop that sold fruit juice, vaulted over the counter, and ducked behind it. I shoved the pistol back into its holster and waited. A moment later a half-dozen orcish soldiers came into sight, AK-47s in hand, their heads turning back and forth as they looked for the intrusion.

“Hey!” I shouted as I gathered power for the spell. “Over here! Looking for me?” 

The orcs turned towards me, the barrels of their weapons swinging around, and I cast the Masking spell. Usually I employed the Masking spell to disguise myself as someone else, wrapping myself in an illusion. This time, though, as all the orcs looked at me, I Masked myself as something else.

Specifically, as the noon sun. 

I had stumbled upon that little trick during Rogomil’s attack on the State Capitol in Madison. The orcs stumbled back, squinting in the illusionary glare of the light pouring off me, and opened fire. But I was already rolling across the floor, and their frantic shots went wild, ricocheting off the floor or smashing the windows of nearby shops.

Corvus sprinted towards the orcish soldiers, his pistol in both hands. The gun spat, and two orcs fell dead. I rolled upon my back, gun braced in both hands, and started shooting. I got another of the orcs, blue blood splashing across the white floor, and by then Corvus was among them like a lion amidst sheep. The dark blade of force appeared in his hands, and he killed the three remaining orcs in quick succession. He moved faster as he did it, the Shadowmorph within him draining away the orcs’ lives and feeding their strength into him. 

I got to my feet, and Corvus’s void-filled eyes met mine. A physical wave of attraction went through me, so intense that it was like touching a stripped wire. It was the lure of his Shadowmorph, the thing within him that feasted upon spilled life, drawing me to its dark glamour.

He was also a very attractive man. Even if my brain pointed out all the drawbacks, the rest of my body disagreed, and the dark aura of the Shadowmorph made it a lot harder to listen to my brain. 

Then he shook his head, the void draining from his eyes as the dark sword shrank into a tattoo upon his arm, and the strange, compelling attraction drained away.

But not nearly all of it. 

“How did you do that?” said Corvus. “I’ve never heard of a spell that can do that. At least not wielded by a human.” 

I shrugged. “It was a Masking spell. I just Masked myself as the sun.” 

“The sun…” Corvus blinked, and then laughed. “That is clever.”

“Thank you,” I said. “It only works if someone is looking right at me. It’s not real light, so I don’t think it can hurt their eyes. But they think it’s hurting their eyes, and so…”

“And so you have a moment to act,” said Corvus. “Well done.”

“Don’t compliment me yet,” I said, pausing to take a couple of grenades from the dead orcs’ harnesses. “Not until this is done.” 

Chapter 11: Disciples of the Void

We encountered no other orcs on the way to the food court. 

The mall was silent as a tomb, save for the regular thunderclaps of dueling spells overhead. Morvilind and the Archon wizards were still hammering at each other. I wondered how much longer they could keep that up. Maybe Morvilind would wear down the Archons, shatter their defenses, and claim the Eye before Corvus and I got near it.

That seemed unlikely. 

Or maybe the Archons would overpower Morvilind.

That seemed even more unlikely.

As we approached the entrance to the food court, the familiar greasy, spicy smell came to my nostrils. I remembered all the pregnant women and women with small children I had seen during lunch, and wondered how many of them had gotten out.

I wondered how many of them lay dead in the wreckage of the mall and its parking lot. 

I was tried and frightened, but I was angry, as angry as I had ever been in my life…and I have a lot of anger most days. I was even angrier than I had been at Madison when I had uploaded the contents of Sergei Rogomil’s phone to the Inquisition. I hated Punishment Day videos and never watched them…but I had made an exception for the executions of the Rebels responsible for the bombings in Madison. 

I regretted a lot of things I had done, but I didn’t regret that, and I didn’t regret the orcish soldiers I had killed today.

And if I wound up having to kill some Rebels, I wasn’t going to regret that, either. 

Corvus and I eased into the mall’s food court, taking cover behind more potted plants in their massive stone containers. The food court was a big place, with four levels of balconies rising over the main floor, and dozens of fast food restaurants lining those balconies. Far overhead I saw the catwalk where Russell and Lydia Valborg and I had escaped that afternoon, though so much had happened since that it seemed like years had passed. The emergency lights remained on, but I hardly noticed.

The bloody glow from the Cruciform Eye filled the room.

The Eye rested on a table in the center of the food court. As I gazed at the thing, I understood where it had obtained its name. It did look like a giant bloody eye with a cross-shaped pupil of utter darkness. Even without working a spell, I could sense the magical power swirling around the damned thing. I heard a sort of whispering in my mind, a hissing stream of inaudible words that came from the Eye and echoed inside my head.